LatinaLista — The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1. This Friday, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will hold a press conference releasing a new computer model simulation that shows there will be fewer hurricanes later in the century, but the ones that do form will be more intense.Hurricane Katrina near peak strength on August 28, 2005
(Source: Wikipedia)
It is something that we are seeing already with the weather â€” starting with Katrina and ending with last week’s tornado rampage through several states that claimed over 20 lives.
It’s a safe bet that we won’t have to wait till the latter part of the 21st century to see these monster hurricanes scientists are predicting.
Of all the coastlines in the country, there are two that have always been the most vulnerable and have a greater risk of being hit than the rest of the country: Florida’s Atlantic coastline and the Gulf Coast coastline from Florida to Texas.
When these areas know they are in the path of destructive hurricanes, people are evacuated. Ã…fter Katrina, it was seen that everyone had the right to be moved out of the city and out of potential life-threatening harm.
Yet, in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, officials say that when the time comes to evacuate people only legal citizens will be allowed on the buses.

The Rio Grande Valley Guardian online news site reports that in the event of an evacuation in the area, people will be prescreened for citizenship before they are allowed on any of the fleet of school buses that will be used to transport the estimated 130,000 people who will need to be evacuated.
Those who are found to be undocumented will be taken by Customs and Border Patrol to “special areas” that are said to “withstand hurricanes.” Among these “special areas” used to detain the undocumented immigrants are Border Patrol facilities in Harlingen and Edinburgh.
Seeing that these Border Patrol facilities are of the brick/mortar/steel beam variety, unless they are built with some secret material that is classified, chances are they will provide little protection for the undocumented immigrants and any of the Border Patrol agents who pulled the short straw to stay behind and guard these people.
This would especially be true if the NOAA’s predictions that hurricanes will be more intense. We saw what happened with Katrina and Hurricane Andrew which destroyed the town of Homestead, Florida.
And even if a building withstands the 100+ mph winds, what building, not to mention people, can withstand rising floodwaters?
Needless to say, the decision to separate people based on citizenship is not only inhumane but it is foolhardy.
At the slightest chance that something were to happen to these people in these facilities, the United States would be the target of a global public relations fiasco. Our neighbors to the south would most probably start filing lawsuits on behalf of their citizens and the United Nations, with all its members, would definitely condemn the actions of the representatives who acted on behalf of the U.S. government.
The international reputation of the United States has already lost credibility, such an action as separating people based on citizenship in the face of an impending natural disaster, would obliterate any semblance of respect for the USA from it’s global colleagues.
If ever there was a case to force the issue: humanity or legality â€” this is it.

Comment(14)

Frank

May 14, 2008 at 3:35 pm

What part of “these areas will withstand hurricanes” didn’t you understand? With hurricanes come floods so it only makes sense that every disaster that is part of a hurricane would also be taken into consideration in these “special areas”. You are grasping at straws now because you just don’t want illegals deported and that is what the end result would be after the hurricane is over.

Horace

May 14, 2008 at 5:39 pm

“Those who are found to be undocumented will be taken by Customs and Border Patrol to “special areas” that are said to “withstand hurricanes.” Among these “special areas” used to detain the undocumented immigrants are Border Patrol facilities in Harlingen and Edinburgh.
Seeing that these Border Patrol facilities are of the brick/mortar/steel beam variety, unless they are built with some secret material that is classified, chances are they will provide little protection for the undocumented immigrants and any of the Border Patrol agents who pulled the short straw to stay behind and guard these people.”
Marisa is not only a journalist, but an architectural or civil engineer. I presume that you are making assertions that are actually supported by first hand knowledge of these structures, and not just guess work on your part.
“And even if a building withstands the 100+ mph winds, what building, not to mention people, can withstand rising floodwaters?”
Not sure of her outrageous assertion that the government will put these people in unsafe structures, incapable of withstanding a hurricane, she would presume that they would be located in low lying areas, subject to flooding, just to be certain that her accusations of negligence would be complete.
Marisa, you really have no idea whether what you’ve said is true, do you? This is just another gratuitous attempt at demonizing the federal government and its employees without an ounce of fact to back it up.

Texano78704

May 14, 2008 at 7:26 pm

This is just absurdly bigoted.

laura

May 15, 2008 at 9:27 am

The Texas “authorities” who publicize this plan simply show their fundamental contempt for human life, of US citizens no less than of undocumented migrants.
In the face of a hurricane, evacuating people is a difficult logistical challenge. Trying to determine who is a US citizen while a hurricane is approaching would make evacuation of everyone who relies on their buses so inefficient that it would simply fall apart.
The only people able to evacuate would be those with cars – poor and disabled people would be left behind, just like in New Orleans.
Those who say they will check evacuees’ immigration status show they simply do not care about evacuating anyone in case of a natural disaster.
Either that, or they are so abysmally stupid that they should not be receiving salaries from taxpayers’ money.

Horace

May 15, 2008 at 5:15 pm

Laura, so far the only fact that’s been established is that you are “abysmally stupid.” You shoot your mouth off by making gross assumptions and by demonizing our authorities with a shred of proof of their intent. You’re so pathetic!

Evelyn

May 16, 2008 at 5:52 pm

And Horace again directly calling people names for lack of anything of substance to debate with. Twice as pathetic! Nothing new. Same tactics!

Jose

May 17, 2008 at 1:02 pm

People will have very little notice of an evacuation order when it does get issued. Are we really going to stand for any delay in evacuating people from a hurricane just because they don’t have a piece of paper? How crazy is that?

Frank

May 17, 2008 at 8:04 pm

LOL! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black about name calling!
Horace rarely name calls, however most of the pro-illegals do it all the time. One person in particular comes to mind.

Publius

May 17, 2008 at 10:23 pm

I would suggest that illegal aliens make their own arrangements well in advance. Now wouldn’t be too soon, with a departure date of tomorrow. These people are just another burden imposed upon the taxpayers.

Evelyn

May 19, 2008 at 12:51 am

Pathetic are those who embrace, accept, practice and preach racism, and then get mad when called racist.

Frank

May 19, 2008 at 8:47 pm

The truth though is that the anti-illegals in here are not preaching or practicing racism! It is nothing but pathetic lies to cover up the pro-illegals own racist agenda! Shameful that they call themselves adults and behave like two year olds with their childish name calling!

MIchael

May 20, 2008 at 2:37 pm

I don’t understand why people are clinging to that phrase “these areas will withstand hurricanes”. Who is to say that they will? The SuperDome in New Orleans had it’s ceiling coming apart during Hurricane Katrina and the building flooded.
Don’t you remember the horrible conditions that the people stuck there had to endure? Or was it okay for you because most of the people that had to endure it were black?
Although the argument can be made that a country should give it’s citizenry priority, where exactly do you draw the line? What about tourists? If the buses were full, would they be left out? In some ways, those that live and work in an area that is to be evacuated are more a part of the fabric of a community than a tourist.

Horace

May 23, 2008 at 9:42 pm

“…..those that live and work in an area that is to be evacuated are more a part of the fabric of a community than a tourist.”
Illegal aliens are imposters in that they pretend that they’re legitimate parts of the fabric of our community. Our immigrtion laws declare that they are not. We don’t deport the legitimate fabric of our community. Unlike illegal aliens, tourists are not known for their contempt for our laws and generally don’t use our hospitals for primary care and stick them and us with the bill (300 hospitals have gone bankrupt because of non-payers, many who are illegal aliens. Ever wonder why hospitals bill insurance companies pay three times the wholesale price of saline irrigant when their clients go to the emergency room, and premiums are so high? Even if they aren’t solely responsible for this, they are major contributers). Tourists bring in millions to our economy, in sales taxes, souvenirs, motel rooms, etc., without extracting social services. Illegal aliens send billions back to their homeland, sucking money out of our economy. A good number of birthright children of illegal aliens use welfare benefits. I’ve never accepted the habit of the poor to have more children than they can care for, leaving the taxpayers to make up for their shortcomings. It’s even more egregious when they’re the children of foreign interlopers. And the parents are some of people who Latinos demand a path to citizenship for. Tell me that such people put more into our economy than they take out and I’ll call you a liar. As Marisa likes to say, they contribute, but she fails to admit the reality that they are net burdens on our economy. That’s just what our nation needs; additional welfare clients.
Getting back to the issue at hand. Let’s talk common sense. Everyone, including citizens should make their own provisions to evacuate the path of a hurrican. Our states resources aren’t sufficient to transport the huge numbers that would be necessary to vacate an area in which few citizens own automobiles. Only those who have no resources of their own should prevail upon the state to do the job. If illegal aliens want to prove that they’re not burdens on our country, they should make their own preparations. Only the lame and hospitalized should be using government resources. More than likely, tourists will be given sufficient warning to make their own provisions for evacuation, and they’ll pay their own way.

Horace

May 26, 2008 at 9:56 am

Evelyn and people who think like here are products of the following educational system, or something similar. Marisa, I challenge you to publish it, even though it’s off topic:
Tucson Citizen: Opinion
Published: 05.21.2008
Guest opinion: Raza studies gives rise to racial hostility
JOHN A. WARD
As a former teacher in Tucson Unified School District’s hotly debated ethnic studies department, I submit my perspective for the public’s consideration.
During the 2002-2003 school year, I taught a U.S. history course with a Mexican-American perspective. The course was part of the Raza/Chicano studies department.
Within one week of the course beginning, I was told that I was a “teacher of record,” meaning that I was expected only to assign grades. The Raza studies department staff would teach the class.
I was assigned to be a “teacher of record” because some members of the Raza studies staff lacked teaching certificates. It was a convenient way of circumventing the rules.
I stated that I expected to do more than assign grades. I expected to be involved in teaching the class. The department was less than enthusiastic but agreed.
Immediately it was clear that the class was not a U.S. history course, which the state of Arizona requires for graduation. The class was similar to a sociology course one expects to see at a university.
Where history was missing from the course, it was filled by controversial and biased curriculum.
The basic theme of the curriculum was that Mexican-Americans were and continue to be victims of a racist American society driven by the interests of middle and upper-class whites.
In this narrative, whites are able to maintain their influence only if minorities are held down. Thus, social, political and economic events in America must be understood through this lens.
This biased and sole paradigm justified teaching that our community police officers are an extension of the white power structure and that they are the strongmen used “to keep minorities in their ghettos.”
It justified telling the class that there are fewer Mexican-Americans in Tucson Magnet High School’s advanced placement courses because their “white teachers” do not believe they are capable and do not want them to get ahead.
It justified teaching that the Southwestern United States was taken from Mexicans because of the insatiable greed of the Yankee who acquired his values from the corrupted ethos of Western civilization.
It was taught that the Southwest is “Atzlan,” the ancient homeland of the Aztecs, and still rightfully belongs to their descendants – to all people of indigenous Mexican heritage.
As an educator, I refused to be complicit in a curriculum that engendered racial hostility, irresponsibly demeaned America’s civil institutions, undermined our public servants, discounted any virtues in Western civilization and taught disdain for American sovereignty.
When I raised these concerns, I was told that I was a “racist,” despite being Hispanic. Acknowledging my heritage, the Raza studies staff also informed me that I was a vendido, the Spanish term for “sellout.”
The culmination of my challenge to the department’s curriculum was my removal from that particular class. The Raza studies department and its district-level allies pressured the Tucson High administration to silence my concerns through reassignment to another class during that one period.
The Raza studies department used the “racist” card, which is probably the most worn-out and desperate maneuver used to silence competing perspectives.
It is fundamentally anti-intellectual because it immediately stops debate by threatening to destroy the reputation of those who would provide counter arguments.
Unfortunately, I am not the only one to have been intimidated by the Raza studies department in this way.
The diplomatic and flattering language that the department and its proponents use to describe the Raza studies program is an attempt to avoid public scrutiny. When necessary, the department invokes terms such as “witch hunt” and “McCarthyism” to diminish the validity of whatever public scrutiny it does get.
The proponents of this program may conceal its reality to the public. But as a former teacher in the program, I am witness to its ugly underbelly.
Arizona taxpayers should ask themselves whether they should pay for the messages engendered in these classrooms with their hard-earned tax dollars.
The Raza studies department has powerful allies in TUSD, on its governing board and in the U.S. House of Representatives and thus operates with much impunity.
Occasionally there are minor irritations from the state superintendent of public instruction and the Legislature.
Ultimately, Arizona taxpayers own TUSD and have the right to change it. The change will have to come from replacing the board if its members refuse to make the Raza studies department respect the public trust.
John A. Ward is a former teacher at Tucson High Magnet School.